25 Chinese New Year Foods That Will Bring You Good Fortune

Take your time and give this homemade dumpling process lots of love—餃子 (jiao zi) are often made in the company of loved ones around Chinese New Year to celebrate families gathering together. Their shape resembles Chinese gold ingots, a currency that was used during the Ming dynasty, and are meant to represent prosperity, wealth, and health. May each one bring you a bite-sized pocket of blessing!

Get the Homemade Dumplings recipe.

Bowls of congee in Beijing are often served with a donut called 油條 (youtiao) that's commonly served at New Year's celebrations. Literally meaning “oil stick,” youtiao are consumed hot and fresh from the morning vendor’s drum of frying oil, the softly crunchy exterior giving way to a tender but slightly chewy crumb with large air pockets—perfect for dipping into a bowl of warm congee.

Get the Congee with Youtiao (Chinese Donuts) recipe.

Originating from Chinese Sichuan cooking, Dan Dan noodles were named for the carrying pole (aka dan dan) that street vendors used to carry baskets of noodles and sauce. While sometimes served as a soup in China, American versions are usually more saucy than soupy, and often include sesame paste, peanut butter, or tahini.

Get the Dan Dan Noodles recipe.

Usually eaten on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, tang yuan (湯圓) is a sweet treat that symbolizes familial unity and togetherness. Our favorite fillings are sweet black sesame and ground peanuts, but feel free to get creative with your fillings (Nutella, tahini, peanut butter...).

Get the Tang Yuan: Glutinous Rice Balls recipe.

We here at Delish love dumplings of all kinds, but making them completely from scratch can be a lot. If you want something that’s a little less work intensive (and you love using your air fryer), this recipe is all yours.

Get the Air Fryer Potstickers recipe.

Our best tip for making these Chinese cookies is to embrace trial and error! You’ll likely fail a few times before you get them right, but that's all part of the enjoyment. What better sentiment for ringing in the New Year?

Get the Fortune Cookies recipe.

If you're really paranoid about this gorgeous red fish sticking to your grill, make sure to cook over high heat and don't touch the snapper until its skin is crispy. You could also cook over a few slices of lemon or onion to provide a protective layer. Not only will this ensure no stuck bits, but it will also add some flavor to your fish.

Get the Grilled Red Snapper recipe.

A Chinese-American staple, egg rolls are one of our favorite dishes to experiment with and symbolize wealth. From reuben egg rolls to antipasto egg rolls (even Snickers egg rolls), we can't get enough of this versatile snack. Once we discovered the magic of the air fryer, we knew we had to develop an egg roll recipe for our new favorite gadget. Quick to make and even easier to clean up, this recipe uses less oil than the usual deep-fried versions, making it one of our new go-to dishes for an easy snack or Chinese New Year appetizer.

Get the Air Fryer Egg Rolls recipe.

We turn to this quick and easy wonton soup over and over when temperatures start dropping. Not only does it come together in a flash, it's also super-satisfying without weighing you down. If you'd like to add some veggies to this soup, try dropping some quartered bok choy into the boiling broth a couple minutes before serving.

Get the Wonton Soup recipe.

Peking duck is a classic of Beijing cuisine, has extra-crispy and shiny skin, and is usually served in very thin slices and wrapped in some form of crepe. Using chicken is certainly untraditional but will give you similar results at home!

Get the Peking Style-Chicken recipe.

Orange chicken has become a staple in Chinese-American cuisine, and is a classic choice when it comes to takeout. The dish involves fried chicken tossed in a thick sauce made from orange juice, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, chili sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice. The result is crispy bites of chicken coated in a sweet and sticky orange-flavored sauce that seeps perfectly onto an accompanying pile of rice.

Get the Orange Chicken recipe.

Poached chicken is a delicious Chinese New Year tradition that's often a main dish, and let's face it: We hear "poached chicken breast" and we hear "tasteless, rubbery, no thanks." Before we jump to conclusions, can we interest you in some nutmeg-thyme gravy? We thought so!

Get the Poached Chicken Breast recipe.

We absolutely LOVE dumplings, and xiaolongbao, the Chinese version filled with ground pork and gelatinized pork broth, are some of the best. Though traditionally pork bones are used to make the broth semi-solid, they can be hard to find, so we've subbed in gelatin and whatever broth you like. Trust us, once heated up, these dumplings are still just as heavenly.

Get the Soup Dumplings recipe.

Thought to have been created in China about a century ago, shrimp toast combines traditional Chinese shrimp paste with Western white bread to create one of the earliest fusion foods. Try the recipe, and you'll understand why this cocktail hour staple has stood the test of time and will help you bring in some much-needed happiness via the shrimp's Chinese New Year symbolism. 😉

Get the Shrimp Toasts recipe.

A lot of wonton soups tend to just be wontons and broth. Sometimes there will be noodles or some sliced scallions, but it tends to be a pretty minimalist dish. The PF Chang's version is for those who want more, more, and then some more.

Get the Copycat PF Chang's Wonton Soup recipe.

Trout's delicate flavor is the perfect match for citrus and herbs, which is why we love to roast it whole, filling it with all our favorite aromatics. Encasing the fish in foil steams the fish, trapping in all that delicious, buttery jus.

Get the Whole Roasted Trout recipe.

Looking for a weekend project? We suggest these super-flavorful (and surprisingly easy) pot stickers! Don't miss the photo guide of our folding technique, though you don't need to fuss too much over them. They'll taste amazing no matter how they look.

Get the Ginger Pork Potstickers recipe.

Sichuan chicken comes from the region of Sichuan in China and is meant to be pretty spicy. Sichuan cuisine is known for using strong flavors and especially Sichuan peppercorns, which have a very distinct and have a numbing effect. We recommend using them in this dish, but if you can't find them, black peppercorns can be used, but of course won't have quite the same flavor. Most of the heat comes from the chiles. so if you're sensitive to heat, feel free to cut back on some of them!

Get the Szechuan Chicken recipe.

Using the ingredients you probably already have on hand, this recipe takes just 10 minutes. The only chopping you'll have to do is slicing up some scallions for the garnish! The secret to making a great bowl of egg drop soup is patience. To ensure you have the silkiest strands of eggs, let residual heat do the cooking: Bring your chicken broth up to a boil, thicken it with a cornstarch slurry, then turn the heat off before you add the eggs! This form of indirect heat will help the eggs stay tenderly soft and ethereally light.

Get the Egg Drop Soup recipe.

This baked orange chicken is just as delicious and savory-sweet as a fried orange chicken, without the added effort or hot oil. Serve along fluffy white rice and some delicious broccoli or bok choy for a fantastic weeknight meal.

Get the Baked Orange Chicken recipe.